A Range of Light

Lightrange Media.

Of all the difficult tasks in starting a business, choosing a name is likely the top of the list. All of the clever ones are taken and some of the ones you really want are trademarked in your same sector. I decided long ago to not name a business after myself, at least directly so I had to be creative.

In my time as a pilot and aviation journalist, I have had the good fortune to explore many of the back highways, dirt strips, small towns, and out of the way places that make the United States so interesting. My busiest year, I was on the road nearly 200 days. I’ve had the privilege to travel in each of the lower 48 states — usually far away from the beaten path.

My favorite places tend to be out West. Perhaps I have a Horace Greeley streak, but I’ve always gravitated to the wide open spaces that exist on the left side of the continental divide. Foremost among the places I love are those along the Sierra Nevada. Driving up the Owens Valley on US-395, and coming out in the area of Lake Tahoe is my favorite land journey, but any time spent in the Sierra is treasured.

Traversing I-80 from Sacramento to Reno had a profound impact on me the first time I did it. When life gave me the rare opportunity to choose my own name, Sierra was the only tenable option. I recalled a place just off the highway, towards Reno from Truckee, where the river, the railroad, and the interstate all run parallel and wind through a valley together. There’s a pull-off with some paths down to the river, and the riverbank there is a very special place to me. If you walk down to it, the roar of the water drowns out the trucks on ‘80. I was visiting this spot once as a train came by. It was Autumn in the Sierra, and it felt like living in a movie. I meditated on that memory when affirming what I wanted to be called.

The beauty of these mountains, and the wonderful experiences I tend to have when visiting or passing through, have made me quite fond of them. Noted conservationist John Muir spent decades in them, and felt the same way. In his 1894 book The Mountains of California he wrote “Then it seemed to me the Sierra should be called not the Nevada, or Snowy Range, but the Range of Light.”

That beautiful description gives me the cover to name my company after the mountain range from which I draw my own name, and thus after myself, in a roundabout way. Range of Light is both already taken and a mouthful, so my turn-of-phrase is the more marketable Lightrange Media.

The business is really just a continuation of the work I’ve done for decades, but it allows me to focus on bringing my signature storytelling to aviation brands. I’m an aviator, helping aviators think strategically about their brand voice and bringing together the team that will make the execution flawless.

So, what’s in a name? Everything.